


Cupid's Chokehold

by JugbandArnold



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: F/F, Funny, Rom-com, i don't know what this is, ish?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-13
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-06-08 04:20:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6838810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JugbandArnold/pseuds/JugbandArnold
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Assume all assumptions. This is set in a pre-POI world so Shaw is working for the ISA while Root is still a hacker/assassin for hire. An alternate rom-com ish theme to the whole Shoot story. I think THINK it's funny. Maybe you might think so too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Cupid's Chokehold

                "All set up Shaw?"

Shaw was lazily sitting in one of the cozy chairs of the nearly-empty coffee-place, staring right into the dark screen of her laptop. Being a field agent for the ISA mostly meant shooting kneecaps and busting skulls - but it also sometimes meant gathering intel. Shaw would have preferred the normal ways to gather intel, i.e. a brief torture session, but with little to no leads on this assignment, it meant scoping out the person of interest first.

               "Yep."

Michael Cole, Shaw's hacker/partner agent was always behind the scenes, even if the task didn't call for it. The two didn't mind, they preferred it that way, even if it meant Shaw spending the morning in a quiet coffee-shop instead of on a high-octane chase.

               "Excellent." Cole replied, into Shaw's earpiece, typing away merrily at his keyboard. He was two floors above the coffee-shop, comfortable in their make-shift base camp for the next few days, and with all the data he needed at his finger-tips, including an audio-visual line from the shop two floors down.

               "And who do I have to knock-out in case they figure out you're hacking into their laptop?" Shaw clarified in her low tone, taking a casual yet sharp look at the few people on their computers in the cafe.

               "Redhead to your left.", Cole replied, running various bits of code and working his way around the numerous firewalls this lady had put up. Shaw, with a sidelong glance summed up the skinny pale redhead next to her, and deciding that she wouldn't be a problem, decided to kickback a bit and enjoy the coffee this morning.

               "You getting bored there Shaw?" Cole asked, still curious why he couldn't simply enter the redhead's laptop easily, but working hard anyway.

               "Not really, I've got some barista eye-candy to check out." Shaw minced through her teeth, slowly stirring the half-empty cup of coffee on the table with her index finger.

Cole took a second off his computer screen to check out whoever Shaw was referring too, grinning as he got back to hacking.

               "Didn't think you were the kind to like skinny white boys, Shaw." Cole chuckled.

               "What? No - I was talking about the brunette there." Shaw corrected, shifting slightly in her seat.

Cole, with a second glance at the video feed, saw who Shaw was referring too.

               "Wow."

* * *

Root was busy typing away on her phone behind the counter, using her own code to break into Ray's laptop, when Shaw had walked into the coffee shop in a pair of black jeans and a black t-shirt, armed with a laptop. Root had to suck in a breath when Shaw walked up to the counter and asked her for a cup of coffee.

_Hot damn._

In the coy way that was typically Root, she  grinned and was overly-indulgent with Shaw, who did carefully notice it, but was impassive about it as usual.

Shaw had long left the counter and set up the laptop and was now toying with her cup of coffee, but Root hadn't left her out of her sight.

* * *

               "She's - Wow." Cole sighed, taking a second to get back to typing.

               "I know. I just wanna tie her up and have my way with her in a CIA safe-house for ten hours. " Shaw remarked, grinning at the thought and taking a sip of her coffee.

               "Whoa there, Sam."

               "What?"

               "You can't just say that. You'll freak her out. You gotta be cute with these barista types."

               "Cute?" Shaw's voice was dripping with sarcasm now.

               "Take it from me who's dated 6 baristas. They don't dig the whole "I'm a secret agent for the government" as a pick up line."

               "Cole. I'm sure you need the cute puppy stories to back you up while picking up dates, but trust me. Women dig the hotness." Shaw scoffed.

               "All I'm saying is you gotta be like someone from one of those movies. Like a writer, or an actor or a publisher or something. Baristas love that shit. " Cole explained, and Shaw was in the middle of scoffing again when Root emerged from behind the counter and approached her.

               "Would you like anything else??" Root asked, eyes shining and endearing, which caught Shaw off-guard.

               "Uhhh-Huhhh" Shaw tried, thinking fast of anything that she could reply. Cole, seeing his chance, grinned at the opportunity to get back at Shaw for all the sarcasm.

               "Inspiration." he replied into his mic, which Shaw instantly repeated.

               "Inspiration." Shaw blinked, and would have willingly marched upstairs and kicked Cole for that. Root, however just dissolved into a sweet chuckle at that.

               "Why?" she grinned, looking at Shaw as sweetly as she could.

               "Sam, Buddy, you're on your own now." Cole laughed, finally gaining access to the computer. Shaw, was now thinking fast and desperately.

               "Well," Shaw began, still not losing her cool at all. "I'm a writer working on this story, but I can't just get any inspiration on how to end this scene." Shaw offered, hoping that was a good enough explanation.

               "What's the scene?" Root smiled, sitting into the chair next to Shaw, who now realized she needed to come up with another explanation, fast.

               "I've almost got it Shaw." Cole grunted, typing away furiously.

               "The uhh-scene is - there's a writer in a coffee shop, and she wants to ask this cute barista out on a date - so - does she agree or not - that's the dilemma." Cole burst out laughing hearing that, Shaw had already decided Cole was going to have a broken nose by the end of the day.

               Root, hearing that, too broke out in laughter and the least Shaw could to make the whole situation less awkward was to smile a bit.

               "You have the worst pick-up lines." Root laughed, and Shaw mentally rolled her eyes at that. _If only she knew._

               "Perhaps. You could help me out with that later. Would you like to go out for a cup of coffee sometime?" Shaw quickly finished, not at all comfortable feeling awkward like this, till she remembered that they were in a coffee place.

               "This is a coffee-shop." Root laughed again, and Shaw was getting sick of being laughed at.

               "I've got it. It's an address, Lucy's Diner, Lexington Ave. 8:00 pm. Some kind of pickup of drop expected. " Cole shouted out, relieved at finally getting some intel.

               "Okay then, how about dinner. Lucy's Diner, Lexington Avenue, 8:00 pm." Shaw suggested as smooth as she could.

               "What - NO - that's on the other side of town Sam, there's no way she's going to agree - "

               Root was going to turn Shaw down (she had dinner plans of her own, till she noticed that the place Shaw suggested was the very address she had hacked out of Ray's computer as well.

               "See you there then." Root smiled, offering her hand out to Shaw, just aching to touch her skin.

               Shaw smirked, seeing that she both gotten the date she wanted and had won over Cole.

               "Looking forward to seeing you there, uhh - Root?" Shaw smiled, reading off the name tag on Root's apron. Root waved it off with a grin.

               "College nick-name. I'll see you there then - Sameen." Root nodded back, getting up and getting back to work.

               "Wait, how did she know my name." Shaw suddenly caught that, sitting up immediately - as if ready to kill. Cole groaned at that.

               "You gave it on the coffee-cup, Genius." Cole grunted, seeing that he lost today.

               _Ahh yes._

 

 


	2. Dream Lover

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the comments. :)

"Name's Ary. Code named Ray." Cole went over for the last time, as Shaw pulled on her boots. "She's been snooping around for some security codes to some very classified data, which we have to retrieve. I'm not sure what's going on tonight, but my best guess is Ray is going to be there with whoever's giving this information." Cole finished, lying back in his revolving chair.

"You've forgotten the most important part." Shaw grunted, sliding her guns into her boots. Cole sat up with a look of surprise, sure that he had gone over all the data he had gathered.

"I've got a date tonight?" Shaw replied, gesturing with her hands as if to jog Cole's memory. Cole flopped back in his chair at that.

"Brunette Barista isn't gonna show up tonight Shaw. Forget about it."

"You're just jealous and trying to get me down." Shaw replied, grinning as she took a final appraising look at herself in the mirror.

"I'm realistic and not over-confident, and she's not coming." Cole groaned with desperation, he had enough with Shaw gloating the whole afternoon.

"We'll just see about that." Shaw countered with her casual, cocky attitude.

"And if anything goes wrong, you're going to have to intervene." Cole requested, turning to check one of the three monitors he had setup.

"That reminds me, you want to talk to me " Shaw shook her phone at him, "Call. You are not going to be listening in on my date tonight." Shaw narrowed her eyes at him sternly, and Cole threw his hands up with a shrug.

Checking the time and deciding it was almost time she left, Shaw couldn't stop as she checked herself for the last time in the mirror. Cole noticed that and chortled to himself.

"Nervous about tonight?"

"The date? No. Apprehending the number? No. Doing the two at the same time?" Shaw considered, walking to the door and smiled to herself as she slammed the door with a resounding "Nope." She wasn't going to give Cole any satisfaction at all.

"We'll just see about that." Cole chuckled, as he mimicked Shaw a few minutes back.

* * *

Shaw was first at the restaurant, actually ten minutes early and managing a secluded seat with a view of the whole restaurant, settled in as cool as ever, eyes on the lookout for Ray and whoever she was going to be with. Root was at the back of Shaw's mind, right now Shaw was considering exit strategies, isolated places and possible techniques she would have to use. Shaw, for all her cockiness knew it was too much to expect Root to turn up here, after all this place was rather far from the coffee place where she had met the barista this morning. Which is why when Shaw spotted Root walking into the restaurant, she was genuinely surprised. 

Root had turned up five minutes early herself, she hadn't wanted to miss Ray (after all; it was the main reason she came here) but she was eager and looking forward to her date with Sameen, who she was surprised to find rather early at the restaurant.

Shaw, seeing Root had immediately realized that this evening was going to be a little more difficult to manage than she originally thought, but it didn't faze her much. She stood up, and steeled herself for what she expected would be an eventful dinner.

"I was worried you weren't coming." Shaw lied with a slight, casual smile and sitting back down, she was full of herself once again and sure there was no way Root wouldn't have turned up.

"I wouldn't have missed this for the world." Root smiled, removing her coat and setting it aside, but not removing her leather jacket. Outside of the barista uniform and in a leather jacket, Root knew she was killing it.

"Shame you can't serve coffee in that leather jacket." Shaw commented before she could stop herself. Seeing Root without the apron and the cap had turned on Shaw a little more than she would have been willing to admit. Root grinned widely at that, with a little laugh.

At that moment, Ray stepped into the restaurant , sat by herself in one of the tables by the window and set up her laptop. Shaw noted it all carefully, and Root's phone buzzed at the exact moment as well.

"Sorry about that." Root smiled again, shoving her phone down into her pocket. Shaw's phone was out on the table and under her palm, incase Cole did need her after all. So far, Ray seemed alone.

Shaw didn't give it much thought, and was busy looking out for whoever was passing close enough to Ray to give a message. The conversation between herself and Root died for a few seconds, till Root tried to revive it again.

"So, what happens next in your story with the barista and the writer?" she inquired, paying very little attention to Ray, after all Root's back was facing Ray.

"Huh?" It took Shaw a split second to realize what Root was talking about.

"Oh - that - well, writing is just a hobby of mine." Shaw explained, still not letting Ray out of her sight. The mission was, as always the priority with Shaw.

Shaw's phone buzzed at that moment, and she saw it was a message from Cole.

"Can't hack laptop. Big guns time." was all it read, and Shaw heaved a sigh of relief; she had been itching for a fight and seeing Ray get up and move towards the bathrooms, she was ready to jump into action.

Shaw picked up her phone and pretending it was a call, gestured to Root, "Sorry, I've got to take this.", not even looking at Root and as casual as ever slinked to the bathrooms.

By the time Shaw reached the bathrooms, her phone was actually ringing, so she picked up the call, her earpiece still in her ear.

"Couldn't hack her laptop. Damn thing's frozen or something. I found out that the actual exchange is tomorrow but before I could get a time and place it froze." Cole explained, still trying his best with the code.

"This should be fun." Shaw smiled to herself, pushing the bathroom door wide open and finding Ray all alone there. Ray didn't need much to gather that Shaw was an agent sent after her, and was ready to fight. She threw a punch which Shaw dodged with ease, and Shaw landed a kick to Ray's stomach and a hard uppercut to Ray's jaw. After a few more punches and kicks, Shaw had managed to get Ray in a chokehold,  with Ray gasping hard.

"Where's the drop-off?" Shaw spit out, tightening her grip on Ray's neck.

"King's Park, West end. 3 pm." Ray choked out, surrendering after seeing there was no way in hell she could win. Shaw smiled at how easy that was, and after knocking Ray out, dragged her unconscious body into one of the stalls and locked her in there.

"There you have it." Shaw muttered to Cole, checking her hair in the mirror.

"Yeah, thanks." Cole replied in a bland voice, slowing his typing and pulling up another set of files instead.

"Did you seriously do a search on "What do women talk about on a first date?"" Cole sarcastically inquired, glad he had something against Shaw. Shaw rolled her eyes at that.

"I'm not exactly the wine-and-dine type of lady." Shaw retorted, biting her teeth hard, walking out of the bathroom.

"Right. And a Google search solved that dilemma." Cole jibed with glee. He wasn't going to let this go for a long time. Shaw cut the call at that.

* * *

While Shaw was busy beating the intel out of Ray, Root had tried her own luck with getting the intel. Seeing that Ray wasn't there at her table, Root simply got up and calmly sat down at Ray's table and began typing at the laptop Ray had left there. All the other people at the restaurant were visibly surprised and disturbed at this, and a waiter took it upon himself to escort Root back to her own table.

"Miss, that isn't your laptop." The waiter began, in a self-righteous voice. Root simply switched to typing with one hand and pushed her jacket aside to reveal a black shiny gun fitted in its holster.

"It isn't yours either, so I wouldn't worry about it." Root replied in a sweet voice, taking a second from her typing to look up to the waiter with innocent eyes. The waiter however, looked ready to scream.

"And if you do anything to disturb my date now, I will shoot you in the neck." she finished, banging her hand on the computer in frustration, realizing that she couldn't get the data she needed off the computer either. She was going to have to get the intel out of Ray herself after all.

The waiter looked pale and ready to faint, but Root didn't care about that at all.

"I mean, do you know how hard it is to get a date doing what I do?" Root rambled on, slightly perplexed about what she was going to do. Seeing Shaw coming back from the bathrooms, she got up from Ray's table and gave the waiter a slight pat on the back before slinking back to their own table.

"Sorry about that, Work's hectic this week." Shaw apologized, sitting back in her seat, relaxed that she didn't have to worry about Ray anymore.

"What do you do?" Root inquired sweetly, and Shaw was quite prepared to tell her the truth, but seeing Root smiling so innocent and naive, she decided that perhaps she had to go easy on the barista after all.

"Medical Research, working on Stem cell development." Shaw made up, proud that she had managed that lie easily.

"And you?"

"Well, when I'm not pouring coffee out to strangers and hot writers" Root gleamed, with a shy look at Shaw who carefully noted it.

"I'm studying Computer Coding at the University". Shaw was impressed at that. She knew she would prefer having Root to talk to rather than Cole.

"Wow, didn't expect a barista to be a hacker." Shaw smiled, doing her best to keep the conversation fluid, but no matter what she tried, it all felt sadly fake to her.

The very waiter Root had threatened to kill turned up at the table, trembling with a bottle of wine, Shaw simply assumed that Root had ordered it when she was in the bathroom.

"You've got to pay your way somehow." Root offhandedly replied, smiling at the waiter as he filled her glass.

"I know this is out there but - " Shaw began, leaning forward and attempting to make the conversation better, in her own outlandish way, "can't you just hack a bank and rewire any money you need to yourself."

Root grinned at that, knowing that was precisely what she did for money all the time, but knew that she had to appear normal to the hot writer/ research doctor.

"Oh I wish I could," Root began, taking a sip of her glass of wine, "but you know - it's illegal." she whispered to Shaw, which Shaw chuckled at.

_She doesn't have to know I flunked Ethics in college, right?_

Shaw, smiling and leaning forward, tried to find Root's leg with her own and rubbed her foot on the side of Root's calf. Root blushed at that, and completely forgot about the whole Ray business.

"For a second, assume nothing is illegal," Shaw offered, her voice sultry and low "wouldn't you want to hack one of those banks?"

Root, smiling seductively - considered the thought for a moment.

"I would do more than that. Get a gun and shoot the CFO in the head, get a lot of explosives and watch the place burn." Root blurted, quite unable to stop herself, and Shaw was so enticed that she kept staring at Root with awe.

A rather comfortable silence lingered over the two of them for few seconds as they stared longingly at each other, Shaw's foot still sliding slowly over Root's leg - till Shaw's phone buzzed again. Root, suddenly remembering the whole Ray job, jerked herself and pretended to knock some wine over herself.

"Oh - I'm sorry, just got so nervous. " Root giggled, as she got up and without waiting for an answer, rushed to the bathrooms herself, hoping to still find Ray there.

Shaw was ready to murder Cole now.

"AND I WAS JUST GETTING HER NERVOUS COLE!"  She fiercely muttered picking up the call.

"Did you kill Ray?"

"What? No! Why?"

"You were supposed to!" Cole admonished, falling back his chair.

"I was? Since when?" Shaw asked back in surprise.

"That was the plan Shaw!" Shaw groaned at that, she was in no mood to go back and kill Ray.

"Can't you do it?"

"Why? So that you can get laid?"

"Hey - I've helped you get laid plenty of times." Shaw struck back. "You once made me break in your ex's bedroom and light candles and spread flowers on the bed. You owe me." Shaw retorted with a fierce whisper.

Cole scowled and got up to head to Lucy's diner himself.

Root, in the meantime was rather disappointed when she found Ray in the bathroom stalls, slowly gaining consciousness.

"That was no fun at all." she frowned, as she walked back to her table with Shaw, right after getting the intel from Ray and stamping her across her neck with her high-heeled boots, till she died.

* * *

 

The two were having a flirty, laid back conversation and a rather sumptuous dinner when Shaw spotted Cole entering the restaurant, and knowing him, he knew he wasn't going to let this favour slide lightly.

"Sameen!" Cole waved, walking over to Shaw, while Root turned back to see who it was.

"You know him?" Root inquired with surprise, and Shaw with a fake smile, picked up the fork from the table. "Sadly."

"It's been such a long time!" Cole with fake joy grinned, while Shaw got up to greet him, making sure he stayed away from Root.

"Hey - Raymond." Shaw smiled, stabbing the fork into Cole's back, and hoping he would get the idea and leave soon.

"How is the new story coming?" Cole began inquiring and then turned to Root to explain "I know Sameen from Literature Class." Root politely nodded at that.

"It's just fine Raymond." Shaw smiled harder, pressing even harder on the fork

"You should read her stories. God, they are so romantic, they would put Nicholas Sparks to shame." Cole explained with fake passion, and Shaw kicked the back of his knee for that.

"Well, I better get going." Cole offered, seeing that he had done enough and his back was almost beginning to bleed through the clothes.

"See you later Sameen!" he grinned before and before walking away, managed a whisper to Shaw.

"You owe me for this." Cole muttered.

"Who the hell is Nicholas Sparks?" Shaw scowled, before pulling the fork out of his back and sitting back down.

"That was interesting." Root began, surprised. From what she had learnt from Shaw, the last thing was romantic.

"He's just an idiot. Ignore him, like I do." Sameen hurriedly explained, turning to the waiter who looked like he had brought the bill.

"Oh no, Miss, today couples dine free." The waiter reassured with a scared smile at Root and hurried away. Shaw thought it was a bit suspicious, but her thoughts were turned to Cole and how he was dealing with killing Ray in the women's bathroom.

She and Shaw were just leaving the restaurant when Root turned to Shaw to say something.

"Look, I don't really invite people to my place on the first date, but I also don't want this to end now." Root began, and Shaw was sure she would have gotten some that night if it was for Cole calling her up. _Again_. Discretely, she picked up the call, waiting for Cole to speak.

"We have a problem here Shaw." and with that Shaw knew all her hopes of getting laid that night were gone.

"I would love to go to your apartment now," Shaw began, thinking wistfully of feeling Root's bare skin against her own, and cursing that Cole couldn't get on without her. Perhaps Ray's escaped and we have to track her down.

"But, I've got something I've got to work on. But can I see you again? Tomorrow?" Shaw replied, and Root was visibly dejected at that.

"How about 3 pm and King's Park?" Shaw offered and at that Root brightened up and gave Shaw a light kiss on the cheek.

"You know all the best places." Root laughed.                             

* * *

 

"What's the problem Cole" Shaw grunted, marching into the bathrooms once again, while Cole was staring at Ray's lifeless face.

"She's dead."

 _Did I kill her?_ Shaw could have sworn she hadn't , but maybe she had overestimated the lady's tolerance.

"Okay, so?"

"But you didn't kill her?"

 "What does it matter - we wanted her dead, she's dead!" Shaw replied, clearly frustrated. She hadn't expected Cole to be such an idiot.

"I'm not getting laid tonight because someone we wanted dead, is actually dead!" Shaw ranted in a menacing voice, grabbing Cole by the collar.

"You owe me for this Cole!" Shaw scowled, punching Cole hard in the side.

 


	3. Take A Walk

Shaw was in the middle of a very action-packed afternoon - she had reached King's Park early and had to eliminate the threat before Root got there. So she had turned up at the park 30 minutes early, and was in the middle of taking out all of the attacking team of security agents.

"How many were there Cole?" Shaw asked, punching an agent in the stomach,  throwing him over her back and to the ground.

"Seven." Cole replied, bored. He knew very well what Shaw's plan was, and he wasn't fond of his part in it.

"I can't believe you've put me on clean-up duty - Again." he lamented, while Shaw grabbed a phone out of the now unconscious agent on the ground.

"Fifth one's always a charm." Shaw muttered, checking the phone and realizing that the codes that Ray was illegally after were on it. She immediately set up a connection with Cole and sent all of the data that could be retrieved over to him.

"You got all that? I can't seem to delete it off the phone though."

"It's secured. Pull out the batteries for now, and later I'll take care of it." Cole explained, and Shaw promptly pulled the battery out of the phone and kept it in her left-jacket pocket for safe keeping.

"2 more, eh?" Shaw thought to herself, looking around the park carefully for any movement. Quick glance at her watch and Shaw knew that Root would turn up anytime soon.

The park was less like a park and more like an isolated forest. The West end was densely packed with trees and the ground was littered with piles and piles of dry leaves, making good cover for all the dead bodies around Shaw. Cole's job was to ensure the bodies were gotten rid off before anyone got there. Beyond was a large ground, leading to another patch of trees which led to the outskirts of the city. The whole place was eerily silent except for the rustling of the leaves, something Shaw used to her advantage.

Hearing a twig snap behind her, Shaw was quick on her feet and after a couple of well-aimed punches and kicks, the two other agents were also face down on the ground.

"Mission accomplished", Shaw shook herself, turning her neck side to side and overall quite pleased with herself.

"12 minutes before T-time at that." Shaw gloated, stretching her hands and feeling completely refreshed.

"Yay, that's what you should put on your dating profile." Cole drolly replied, getting ready to head out for 'clean-up.'

"Root's here." Shaw replied, spotting Root a little way off and giving her a mild wave.

"I still think the two of you have to get out of there. There's no telling when more agents are going to turn up." Cole warned, though he knew Shaw was thinking the same thing.

"I don't think that should be difficult. You should have seen her last night." Shaw smirked, determined that tonight was definitely the night.

"HEY!" Root waved wildly, almost stumbling over a rock and making her way over.

"Glad you could make it. " Shaw smiled, seeing Root flushed all over her face and carrying a back-pack. Root grinned widely at that, being her bashful innocent self.

"Don't you think this would be better indoors?" Shaw inquired suggestively, moving closer and lowering her voice. Root, however was completely oblivious to what Shaw was suggesting.

"What? No! I've been looking forward to this all day!" Root argued frowning and walking away from Shaw.

"Root, come on - there's nowhere to be comfortable here - " Shaw tried, internally horrified that she was losing this argument - but Root glared back stubbornly.

"You know what - if you want to leave, you're going to have to catch me first." Root suddenly explained, taking off running right into the thicket of trees, right into the West End.

"Sameen Shaw. Can kill 7 people in 18 minutes. Can't get a girl to go home with her. That sounds a much better profile. " Cole joked, but he knew Shaw was intensely worried when she didn't reply with a threat to kick him for that.

"What are you going to do? I don't think the agency would like it if you got her killed in the - "

"She's gonna be safe with me" , Shaw grit her teeth, stamping hard on the dry leaves as she followed Root.

"I'll let you know if I get anything. " Cole assured her and going offline. Shaw nodded at that - tersely searching for Root.

It was roughly five minutes before Shaw found Root at the far end of the park, out of breath and panting.

"I didn't know it was all just trees." Root pouted, giving Shaw her puppy eyes. Shaw plain scoffed at that.

"I don't wanna go back to the city just now. It's so nice and quiet here, plus I brought alcohol." Root frowned, gesturing to her bag. Shaw closed her eyes in defeat; she knew that they wouldn't be leaving the park anytime soon.

"There's an open ground, I guess that would be a nice place for a chat." Shaw gave up, her voice as monotonous as ever. Root immediately brightened up at that. Shaw also figured that the ground would be safer than here.

"That sounds wonderful." Root smiled, linking her arms with Shaw, Shaw leading the way. Shaw wouldn't have normally approved of having Root at her arm's side, but right now she was intent on just getting Root out of there.

"I've been wanting to ask you, what are your stories about?" Root began, genuinely curious.

"Uh - people mostly." Shaw replied curtly, still on the lookout for anyone who could jump out of the trees.

"What people do you like to write about?" Root inquired.

"I don't like people." Shaw absentmindedly replied shaking her head, which made Root laugh.

"What?"

"How can you be a misanthrope and a writer?" Root chuckled, but Shaw didn't see much wrong with that.

"It's possible." Shaw nonchalantly shrugged.

* * *

 

They did reach the ground after a long walk, the two were lying on a little blanket on the grass and staring at the horizon. Shaw had to agree that this place was rather nice - the noise of the city faint but still there, and there didn't seem to be a soul around for miles. Shaw especially felt at ease, she could spot any agent heading their way with plenty of time to spare.

The two were talking about anything and everything, over paper cups filled with first-rate scotch - and everything felt too good to be true for Shaw.

They were staring at the Sun which was now setting, Root's legs on Shaw's lap, while the two went on talking.

"Is it beautiful?" Root asked doubtfully, taking a sip of her scotch.

"Looks like every other sunset to me." Shaw replied, trying to think of a time when she actually observed a sunset. Root however, who was a little drunk, burst out laughing at that.

"It's true!" Shaw explained, defending her view, Root shook her hand at that.

"No, you're right. It's just a lame thing that people just had to romanticize."

Shaw considered it for a minute, and then gave up.  She didn't' care much for other's view on love.

"What do you think about love?" Root asked, and Shaw decided to go with the only way she knew of looking at love.

"I think it should make you do evil, insane stuff, you know? If you aren't gutting someone's throat or killing yourself, I guess it isn't love." Shaw trailed off, she had surprised herself with that confession. Maybe she had underestimated the strength of the alcohol.

Root pulled herself closer to Shaw, her face inches from Shaw's. The silence of the open ground seemed magnified in that moment, and the two just stared at each other in silence, waiting with baited breath for the other to say something. In that moment, they understood - that this was something that they found very rarely ,this point of no-return.

"Kiss me Sameen." Root whispered, her voice slightly quivering, and Shaw felt the sweetest joy as she lingered a moment before kissing her.

Soon however, things got extremely rough - with shirts almost torn off, heavy breathing, forceful grabbing and scratches, lustful sighs and moans - but neither complained - this was the best sex they had had thus far.

* * *

 

When all was over - the two were sweating and feeling cold and drunk on the ground. They managed to grab what remained of their clothes and lay back on the ground, looking up at the sky. The sun had set and the darkness of the night was slowly falling over the place. Shaw tried to sit up but she felt was too comfortable to move. She felt gloriously tired, and had the sudden urge to learn all she could about Root. She badly wanted to know her real name, a phone number, an address, something, anything. Shaw couldn't exactly understand what it was she was feeling, or why she felt that way - but all she could make out was that before she could manage another word, she was asleep.

When Shaw woke up again, it was with a jerk. She thought she had heard something rustling far off. It was rather dark by then and fumbling for her phone - Shaw saw that the time was around 9 in the night. Root, was nowhere to be found.

Shaw felt rather out of her element, she didn't know what had happened, _did I just fall asleep after sex?_ Shaw searched through her mind, checking her pockets for the phone she had retrieved from the agent. Shaw found a little slip of paper - a bill from somewhere - with something faintly handwritten on it. Shaw shone her phone light on it.

"Thank you for everything sweetie." it read, Shaw was sure it was from Root, but she couldn't understand why Root hadn't just woken her up before leaving.

Shaw found the retrieved phone in her right jacket pocket - which immediately alarmed her.

She had been sure she kept it in her left one.

 

* * *

 

Root, the previous night , had actually managed to find out who Sameen actually was. After leaving Sameen at the restaurant - she had thought it rather too good to be coincidence that Shaw had mentioned very specific spots in the entire city - the locations she had gotten from Ray. Root, after some extensive digging - had found out that Shaw was in fact an ISA agent, looking to retrieve the very data she had been hired to acquire. She also learnt that 'Raymond' Cole was Shaw's partner - and learning all this made Root feel a little bittersweet.

_Well that's as good as a conflict of interest can get._

Root, however was completely clueless about how she was going to get the data from Shaw. As heartless as she was, she couldn't deny that she liked the her. A lot.

Root carefully planned out several plans and back-up plans - all the while worried about Shaw figuring out who she was. That was where she had come up with the idea of the potent sleeping pills in the scotch. Root had hoped that it would play out to be something Shaw would forget to consider. Which was what happened.

That afternoon - after running into the trees and making sure she was out of Shaw's line of sight, Root had stumbled across two agents herself. Seeing that she couldn't exactly fire her gun without the shot echoing through the park, Root had to make do with her fists and an old pent-knife. After stabbing the second agent in the gut and chest and pushing him into a high pile of leaves, Root searched the two guys for anything and finding nothing, was now sure that Shaw had already retrieved the data.

After Shaw fell into a deep sleep after their passionate love-making, it quite broke Root's heart that she had to get up. Root couldn't understand why she was so close to tears as she carefully pulled the phone out of Shaw's pocket, transferring the data to her own phone and erasing all the evidence that she had done so. She hadn't intended to leave the note, but Root felt that she simply couldn't leave Shaw all alone like that. After careful consideration, she slid the phone back into the wrong pocket. Root couldn't figure out quite why she did that - perhaps she wanted Sameen to track her down in the end after all.

Getting ready to leave, Shaw was still fast asleep. It was killing Root to leave her there, and she didn't care about Shaw waking up when she gave the sleeping agent a kiss on the forehead before leaving her.

Reminding herself that she had to haul the bodies of the two agents she had killed earlier out of the park, Root sighed as she walked back into the thicket.

 

* * *

 

"Cole! Check if someone transferred the data off the phone after I sent it to you." Shaw grunted, almost sprinting through the park.

"What happened? You okay?!" Cole asked back, already on edge hearing Shaw's voice.

"Root's gone, I can't find her. And I don't know if they took her - "  Shaw couldn't set aside the possibility that some agent had shoved the note in her pocket.

"What do you mean take her! What the hell were you doing!" Cole exclaimed jumping up and immediately connecting with the retrieved phone. Shaw had put the batteries back.

"I feel asleep." Shaw sheepishly replied, extremely ashamed. Cole could not believe his ears.

"YOU FELL ASLEEP!" he yelled back, typing faster.

Shaw was feeling guilty enough without Cole adding insult to injury.

"What did she do - Spoon you?" Cole jibed, completely annoyed. He knew this was going to happen.

"COLE!"

"There's been no data transfer on the phone since 3 in the afternoon. That was me." Cole quickly replied, and Shaw stopped in her tracks hearing that.

"What?"

"And I'm reviewing footage from the coffee shop - Root was there an hour ago." Cole stated in relief, replaying the footage of Root at the coffee shop, buying a rather large cup of coffee.

"Oh." Shaw actually felt more ashamed than when she thought Root had been kidnapped.

"Does this mean she actually walked out on you? Before you could do the honors yourself?" Cole gasped, piecing together what he understood of what had happened.

Shaw felt a tight pain in her chest at that realization, but brushed it off as she made her way out of the park.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please say something. I don't know if you guys like it or not.


	4. Wicked Ones

Shaw was waiting in line at the theatre to buy some food, her hands stuffed into her hoodie's pockets and glaring straight ahead. Inside her pockets, she was toying with the note she had found 4 days ago, when Root had left her out in the dark at King's Park. Shaw wasn't one to dwell too long on things, but her pride was bruised whenever she thought about Root leaving her there like that. Shaw didn't attempt to find Root after that, writing off the whole incident as a good memory.

"Ready for the mission Shaw?"  Cole's voice came on her earpiece, poor chap had spent the last 30 hours going through all the details on the new number, and sounded as if he was about to fall asleep any minute.

"Yeah, it will just take me a minute to get into the theatre then we're good."

"Seeing that you can't kill her in a theatre, I suggest you enjoy the movie and have your fun in a place a little less conspicuous."  Cole yawned, too tired to focus on anything.

"Get some sleep Cole, I'll wake you up when the action starts." Shaw replied, moving forward in the line.

"Just go over it once now, and I'll get some shuteye."

"Target is Martine over there, who's catching a private 33rd anniversary screening of Scarface with a couple of high end contacts. Martine has grown out of her local thug ring and is looking to expand her interests by making a grand entrance, which is where I stop her." Shaw rattled off without a stutter, focused and sharp as always. Cole grunted in agreement and soon she could hear him snoring over the earpiece. Shaking her head in slight annoyance at that, she cut the line - seeing that she could at least enjoy the movie this way.

Peering over the line of people standing in front of her, Shaw did a double take as she thought she saw a familiar face behind the counter which wasn't far off.

_Root?_

Shaw hustled her way to the front, only to see the woman she thought was Root turn her back on the counter and disappear into one of the back doors, as someone else took over.

Shaw was about to follow her, but decided against it. She had the mission to take care of, and besides - she wasn't too keen on seeing the woman who had walked out on her.

Sure, she was hurt and wanted to get back at Root, but this wasn't the time. Petty matters had to be dealt with later.

"Can I help you?"

"Yeah, two hotdogs." Shaw ordered, wondering if she could catch a decent meal before fighting Martine and her 6ft tall friends who were guarding her like bull dogs.

Shaw was just pulling out some money out of her pocket when the attendant shook her head at that, as if to refuse any payment.

"What?"

"It's on the house." The attendant smiled, handing Shaw her food and beckoning the next customer over. Shaw moved out of the way and was mildly surprised at that, but disregarded it as some error on the attendant's part. Quickly gobbling up her food, Shaw walked over to the side entrance of the theatre that had been rented out by their number. The side entrance was less crowded than the main one, but was still guarded by a vicious thug. Shaw, in her casual fashion - walked past him and tried to push the door open.

"And where do you think you're going?" the thug hounded, his arm barring her from going through the door.

Shaw smiled to herself, taking note of the guy's weak right knee and seemingly tender rib-cage.

* * *

 

Root had spotted Shaw waiting in line at the theatre, but she didn't want Sameen to see her like this again. Root knew she had to come clean about who she was, but not without making a grand entrance first. So she had hurried through the back doors, asking Lucy who was taking over her counter to give Shaw all the food that she wanted free of charge. Lucy wasn't one to think much about that - so she just went with it.

Grabbing her bag, which was packed with a change of clothes and ammunition, Root grinned to herself as she thought of Shaw learning who she really was. Root was excited at the thought of that, she had missed Sameen and was rather heartbroken that Shaw hadn't tried to find her, thinking that perhaps leaving her out there that night was a bit harsh.

Root didn't exactly know what Shaw was doing there, but knowing that she was an ISA agent, Root could make a very good guess about who Shaw was after - and once again she was grateful that her own plans and Shaw's had aligned.

 _Only this time, it's gonna get interesting._ Root thought to herself, assembling her sub-machine gun and snapping a very big magazine into the gun.

 

* * *

 

Shaw was sitting at a corner seat, quite hidden from plain view. The whole theatre was empty except for the middle row of seats where Martine and her men were watching the movie, and none of them had suspected that they weren't alone.

Shaw could have easily killed them then and there, but it would be too much dirty work. Being an honest agent for the ISA meant considering the consequences - a theatre full of dead bodies was hard clean up - and since the orders were to kill only Martine and not her right-hand men too, Shaw knew she had to wait a bit, besides - Scarface was always a favourite with Shaw.

_You can never go wrong with a classic._

As Tony Montana was being ambushed in the very last scene of the movie, Shaw made out a faint shadow slinking towards the centre of the screen, holding what looked like a very powerful weapon. The men had noticed it too and were on their feet immediately - but they were seated quite far from the screen.

Just as Tony Montana brought out his own gun - Shaw suddenly made out who the gun wielding shadow was.

_Root!?_

"SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND" Tony's voice boomed over the sound system, and Root opened fire.

Root's finger never let go of the trigger, spraying bullets over all Martine's men. Shaw, from her vantage point in the top corner, gasped as she saw Root demolish all of Martine's men and Martine herself without a pause.

_That was some epic timing._

Shaw instinctively rose to get up when she realized Root must have spotted her. In a split second Shaw threw herself hard to the theatre's floor, looking up to see the cushioned seat where she was just sitting covered in bullet holes.

_The Hell!_

Shaw was now fully alert, her mind going through all possible scenarios which somehow made a naive, frail woman wield a military grade gun with ease. Shaw admittedly couldn't find a plausible explanation, but she knew one thing for sure.

_Root's got some explaining to do._

* * *

 

Root had been dying for the movie to be over with, she had actually edited out some unnecessary scenes out of the movie so that it would end sooner, and played her entrance perfectly. Grinning wide as Tony voiced his world famous dialogue, Root was elated as she started firing at the men who were now running towards her. In no time, the whole lot of them were covered in bullets, and Root felt what it must have been like to be drug kingpin in those days.

_That was so much fun._

Root had expected Shaw to be about somewhere, but faintly seeing someone move in the corner seat of the theatre had made Root flinch and fire immediately, until she stopped to think that it could have been Shaw.

_Woops, my bad._

Making sure that all of Martine's crew were dead, Root began running out through the emergency exit, shooting Martine's men who were on guard outside, seeing that it was getaway time.

* * *

 

Once she felt Root had stopped firing, Shaw as stealthy as she could, made her way down the side aisle. The movie was still playing, and all the men who had been watched the show were now bloodied and lifeless, staring at the screen. Shaw made her way to the emergency exit herself, only to be assailed by one of Martine's men.

Shaw fought him off and a second later the man fell to the ground, bullet hole in the neck.

Shaw looked up to find Root grinning in return, gun still aimed at were the thug was. Shaw could have sworn she had never been this on-edge and turned on in her entire life. The fire alarm sounded through the building, and Root knew she had to get far from here, fast.

"Who are you?!" Shaw called out to Root, as she ran towards the emergency stairwell.

"Your friendly neighbourhood barista." Root smiled with her best version of wink before disappearing behind the door.

 _Was that a wink - did she wink at me?_ Shaw stopped for a second, before realizing she had to somehow catch up to Root.

Running through the stairwell herself, Shaw could not find Root at all, and she reached the outside of the building where she saw found a Black Jaguar XF outside with a rough-faced driver.

 _Now that'll make a swanky getaway car_. Shaw thought to herself, punching the driver in the face and knocking him out. Shaw dragged his body out and sat in the driver's seat herself, revving the car loud as she saw Root emerge from the back door, back in her usual shirt and leather jacket attire. Shaw pulled her own gun out, not sure what to make of Root anymore.

Root didn't even think to look at the car as she climbed into the front seat with the gun, and Shaw had already shifted the gear before Root could slam the door shut.

"It's hammer time." Shaw remarked, driving the car at full speed onto the highway, her foot never leaving the accelerator.

Root could not believe the day she was having, it all felt too good to be true.

"Who are you?" Shaw barked, both hands on the steering wheel and one hand clutching a gun aimed right at Root. Root was just too happy believe any of this was happening.

 _Nothing like the love of your life driving you on a romantic getaway._ She thought to herself, heart eyes at Shaw.

Shaw however, wanted answers first. _Fun's later._

"I'm a killer for hire." Root sweetly drawled out, tossing the machine gun she was holding to the back seat. Shaw was quick to use that bit of info to piece together odd ends that were sticking out from the last time with Ray.

"So it was you who killed Ray?"

Root nodded at that with a coy smile, and noticing something, reached over Shaw, almost to the driver's side door. Shaw was ready to pull the trigger on Root, but Root didn't seem to care about that at all. She grabbed the seat belt and pulled it over Shaw's chest, carefully brushing her fingers over's Shaw's breasts as she did, before clicked the seatbelt into place.

_Dear God this woman is torture._

"Safety first sweetie." Root smiled, turning back to see a police car tailing them.

"Why is there a police car following us?"  Shaw demanded, seeing that she hadn't exactly thought things through when she had decided to drive Root out of the theatre.

Root nonchalantly shrugged, laying back in her own seat, without wearing her own seatbelt.

"Maybe Martine had a few dirty cops on her list whom her men may be using to catch us." Root suggested, pulling her jacket off, feeling too hot and aroused.

Shaw was barely able to think straight when a shot ricocheted off the side of the car.

"They're firing at us!?"

Root didn't seem too perturbed at that.

"I'm sure you can manage to dodge them, agent." Root replied, wondering if she could actually to do what she wanted to do so badly next. Shaw caught the word agent, and realized that she had been just as bad as Root, and at that a bit of her resentment against Root fell away.

Shaw passed Root a knowing look, and Root replied with a pout of her own. She was dying to just pull Shaw's pants down and have her way with her then and there. At the park, Root had let Shaw top her, but that had been part of Root playing the part of sweet barista. Now it was time to be herself.

Root moved her hands to Shaw's jeans, when Shaw grabbed a hold of her hand, - the other hand still holding her gun and steering the car.

"What are you doing!?" Shaw gasped, unable to believe what Root was trying to do. Sure, she was just as aroused - but in the middle of getting away from a shootout with the police on their tail?

Root simply gave her a look - as if to say that Shaw really had no choice in this matter at all, and she unbuttoned Shaw's jeans and pushed her seat back. Shaw had no choice but to give in.

It was all so wild and outlandish - Shaw could not believe that all this was real. Her jeans were around her knees, her right hand was in Root's hair as Root had her way with her, she was still driving the car and holding onto her own gun with her other hand.

_Best day ever._

* * *

They were still driving away from the city ten minutes later, Shaw's jeans were still around her knees, and the police car hadn't given up on them yet. There were occasional shots at the car, but nothing Shaw couldn't manage. Her mind was still in a whirl from all that she had learnt in the past fifteen minutes - Shaw felt like her head was in the clouds. Root could not believe that she had done that as smooth as she had, and she was so pleased with herself and everything that had happened.

_There is a God._

However Shaw was slowly coming to her senses, and there was no way this could keep going on. Shaw was an agent - and though her rules were drastically different from the average moral code, she did have them. And Root didn't seem to have any rules - she was as free and as wild as a bird.

"Want to blow up a bank later?" Root asked, mentally going over her next mission.

"What!?" Shaw snapped to look at her, not trusting that she heard that right.

"Relax Sameen, it's not like we're going to steal the money." Root laughed off, knowing that she would have definitely stolen the money. Shaw was still staring at her in disbelief, Root felt that perhaps she had over shared, but she wasn't going to turn back now.

_I'm not going to pretend anymore._

"Technically I am only supposed to shoot the CFO" Root recounted, "but what's the fun in that."

Shaw knew that killing someone who was going to turn on the country was one thing, but killing the CFO of a bank was quite another.

"I don't think I can help you there." Shaw mumbled, head back in a whirl with all that she heard.

Root picked up her gun and leaning out of her side window, landed a clean shot to the police car's driver's head. She probably should have warned Shaw she was going to do that, but she was sad that Shaw hadn't agreed to blowing up a bank with her.

The police car took over their own and hit a post and Shaw had to swerve to miss hitting them and ended up hitting another post in the process.

The car screeched as Shaw did her best to minimize the damage, finally bring the car to a stop.

Root got out of the car leaving Shaw right there, and picked up her sub-machine gun from the back seat.

"Well, if you wanna join - you know where to find me."  Root smiled, walking towards the smoking police car.

"HEY!" Shaw yelled - completely taken aback at the last 60 seconds of what had just happened. _She made me swerve into a freaking police car just to make an exit!_

Shaw tried to get up, only to feel her seatbelt cutting her. For the first time in her life, she fumbled with the seat belt and then she almost fell out of the car because her pants were around her knees.

By the time Shaw had pulled her pants back up, Root had already gotten in the police car and was driving it slowly away - giving Shaw a little wave as she did.

_What the fuck just happened today?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the comments, please keep them coming. :)


	5. Where Do I Come From

Shaw was stumbling away from the car wreck, her mind refusing to focus on anything else but getting out of there. It had to do for now - what with Root and her dramatic exit. The ball was in Shaw's court ,or so she gathered, after that last 30 minutes. _Walking back's a bitch,_ Shaw grunted - but she wasn't risking another run-in with the police for another stolen car. Shaw knew she looked a mess with her hair ruffled as hell, her clothes rather dusty from walking on the highway and totally drenched in sweat.

By the time Shaw got back to the safe-house she was absolutely spent, though her day hadn't been that draining. Then again - Root was a force to be reckoned with. Cole jerked awake with Shaw slamming the door shut and she then threw herself on the couch with a huff.

"What did I miss?" Cole muttered, rubbing his eyes.

"My ass being handed to me - on a plate." Shaw mumbled, stuffing her hands in her pockets and pouting.

"What?"

As brief and as monotonous as she could and skipping a lot of details, Shaw conveyed to Cole all that had happened - and by the end of that Cole was wide awake.

"So Root is - "

"Yep."

"And she's going to - "

"Yep."

"And she wanted you to - "

"Yep."

"And she went down on - "

Shaw glared at Cole at that, and he stopped mid-sentence.

Shaw was very conflicted about Root - she liked the hacker/assassin more than she would have outwardly admitted, but here was an actual clash in ideals - Root was chaotic, unpredictable yet wonderfully poetic and undeniably right in her light. Shaw on the other hand had a slightly stricter moral code to adhere to.

"Which bank is she planning to blow up anyway?"

Shaw narrowed her eyes at Cole, how was she supposed to guess which bank the capricious hacker was going to attack. Shaw vaguely recollected Root mentioning that Shaw would know where to meet her - but couldn't think of any place specific. Her hand clutched the crumbled up paper which was still in her pocket - the note Root had left on her the other day at the park and it suddenly struck Shaw.

She hurriedly pulled the note out of her pocket and smoothed it out the best she could - and sure enough the right hand corner had the logo of a very famous bank on it. Shaw couldn't believe it.

_This woman has orchestrated this for quite sometime._

Cole angled his neck to try to see what Shaw was staring at in utter disbelief and was sure Shaw was going to show him whatever it was anyway.

"Where is the nearest branch?" Shaw got up, suddenly eager to find out where this was going.

Cole didn't have to look up which building of the IMF it was that Root was planning to blow up.

 

* * *

 

"I've got to stop her - right?" Shaw reasoned out loud, packing all the ammunition she could into a duffel bag. Cole for the first time Shaw could remember - actually disagreed.

"I don't know Shaw - The IMF has been doing a bit of dirty business for a while now and the governor certainly has a hand in it."

"Blowing up the IMF - that's going to start a war." Shaw argued, surprised at Cole's apprehension about this.

"True. But blowing it up in the right way - without harming innocent people, that can actually send a message." Cole suggested, frowning as he did.

"What are you saying." Shaw gave up, pausing her hurried stuffing of guns into the bag.

"Maybe your girlfriend has a point - and maybe this is one of those things where you have to see the greater good."

"One - she's not my girlfriend. Two - you're suggesting I help her on this?"

Cole knew very well Shaw was smitten with Root - and knowing the two of them - perhaps it was going to cost a bank but if it could get these two idiots together - it would be worth it.  So he nodded slowly.

Shaw couldn't believe that Cole was actually saying all this - and deciding that it was up to her to save the bank - resumed packing again.

Picking up her SIG Sauer and throwing the bag over her shoulder - Shaw marched out of the safe house, her heart dead set on stopping Root.

"You know most guys just get a girl a puppy." Cole yelled at Shaw, but didn't get a reaction.

 

* * *

 

Root was having a hard time. She was reprimanding herself in her head. She knew this was a far-fetched mission for a single person to carry out - but she felt she had to hijack the IMF by herself. Trouble was - she had quite forgotten that the governor of the IMF was a bad person - and usually bad people didn't bend to her every whim and fancy if she brandished out her shiny guns. No - bad people usually had more powerful weapons - one of which was now aimed at her temple.

Root didn't feel much pain at the prospect of facing imminent death. She was feeling slightly bad about how she dealt with Shaw earlier that day - perhaps if she been a little nicer, Shaw would have agreed and she wouldn't be staring at the muzzle of a very powerful submachine gun.

Root was holding up both her hands, she was still holding on to her two handguns - but was still thinking hard and fast about what her next move should be.

Root's mind was quickly running out of practical options and going to the emotional side, preparing herself for her last minutes alive. Root couldn't deny - she wasn't normally this desperate.

As the governor slowly began to press the trigger, the entire building blacked out and Root took the opportunity to fire a shot at the governor's neck. Making sure she had killed him - Root wondered what could have caused the blackout and seeing a familiar shadow walk towards her holding up a gun, Root's heart was about to melt.

_My hero._

Shaw had planned on actually stopping Root, but seeing she was late for that - she knew she had to improvise. However seeing the old man hold up a gun at Root's head made Shaw realize that perhaps Root and Cole had a point.

Shaw walked over to Root, smirking as she did.

"Two guns? That's kinda lame you know." she commented, setting her bag down and kneeling down - pulled out a block of Semtex with a mischievous grin and held it out to Root. Root's heart was touched with the gesture, and she was quite teary eyed as she pulled out her little block of even stronger Hexomax.

_Mother of God where did she get that from._

"It's a big building - so." Root choked out through the lump in her throat. This was actually as close to a Disney movie could be for Root - with Shaw kneeling before her and the two of them holding out blocks of explosives to each other.

 

* * *

 

It had taken the two of them three hours to set up the explosives and when it was finally done Root had begged that they get to the top of the nearest building just to watch the building crash.

"I want this to be perfect." Root pleaded, and Shaw reluctantly agreed. _Maybe a puppy would have a been a better idea._

Soon enough - they were at the top of the nearby building, with Root was eager to press the trigger and Shaw amused at seeing Root so gleeful.

"Ok - Ok - I'm gonna do it." Root told herself, and then pressed the button.

The explosives were set off and the silent night was now filled with the sound of the huge building crashing down, floor by floor.

Shaw had to admit that it was the most fun she had had in quite a while.

"BEST DATE EVER." was all Root could say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback. Please.


	6. Eat that up, it's good for you.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you thought I was better than this; well clearly you thought wrong.  
> No prizes for guessing where this is so obviously from. :P  
> Sorry!

 

Shaw was handcuffed to the bed, not quite clear on when she had agreed to that but she didn't mind too much. She knew she could always force her right hand through the strands if she needed. The hard part was focusing enough to force her hand through and doing it without Root's notice, and trust Root to make sure it wouldn't be easy to break free from the handcuffs.

With each hand cuffed to each end of the post, Shaw's hands were beginning to ache after 6 hours of being stiff but she couldn't care less about that. She was having the time of her life, and Root as dominant as she was - was always considerate to let Shaw lead for a while, still in handcuffs though.

The two of them had stumbled back to Shaw's safehouse after blowing up the bank, barely making it with their clothes intact. After literally shoving Cole out the door, they had wasted no time in tearing their clothes off and didn't make it to the bedroom till after the second time.

That was at 1 am in the night, and now it was 8 am, but Root looked like she could go on forever. And Shaw was having the most fun, having her first fantasy with Root finally come true.

_Roughly 10 hours in an ISA safehouse. Nailed it._

"So, let's play a game." Root suggested, straddling Shaw wearing nothing but her leather jacket, which had been Shaw's strict orders.

"Hmm Mmm" Shaw hummed in reply, curious about the game and extremely turned on seeing Root take a zip tie and bind both her own hands with it with her just her teeth.

"We make out." Root grinned, leaning into Shaw and kissing her lips and Shaw leaned forward aggressively, "and we can't stop kissing." Root went on, literally speaking into Shaw's mouth as she kept kissing her.

"But we can't touch each other." Root explained, running her tongue along Shaw's bottom lip, and noting carefully the pattern of Shaw's heavy breathing in tune to everything she was doing, knowing very well she was framing this game to ensure she would win.

"So if you touch me, I win - and if I touch you - you win." Root concluded, not willing to waste anymore time explaining this game and continued to kiss Shaw passionately. Both of them were having a hard time staying tied up and not breaking out of their bounds, even if it meant losing. Shaw was more restless than Root, and she was dying to show Root that she could be top as well.

Root was doing her best to not brush her hands against Shaw's chest, and was having a very hard time following the rules of the game she had set herself, but she was sure Shaw would lose.

Sure enough after 3 minutes of breathless making out, Shaw almost yanked frame of the bed off while forcing her hand through the cuff and grabbing Root's waist hard, pulled her close. Root immediately stopped kissing her, giggling as she did.

"You lose Sameen!" she smiled, biting her zip tie clean off. Shaw was sure that was the hottest thing she had ever seen.

"Well, I can do whatever I want now that I'm free"  Shaw smirked, grabbing Root by the neck with her free hand and trying to manage a decent position with her left hand still cuffed to the bed.

"Aww, You're cute when you're cocky." Root drawled, surprised that she was enjoying being dominated, for once.

_This is a new side to me._

Before anything else could happen, the two of them heard the front door being opened and someone, probably Cole - walking in and slamming the door shut. Both of them groaned in sadness that their session was cut so short. _Just 7 hours?!_

"Shaw, whatever freak show you've got going on there - cut it out 'coz I've been walking around town for 7 hours and it isn't fun so suck it up and - " Cole whined in his usual voice.

Root however wasn't taking any of it. Before Shaw could stop her, she had already grabbed her handgun which she had left on the side table and fired a shot into the wall, the wall which was separating the front room and their bedroom, stopping Cole midsentence.

"Hi! Cole is it?" Root yelled out, Shaw staring back at her in horror. "Yeah, maybe you could treat my girlfriend with a little more respect next time." She continued, not hearing any reply of sorts.

Shaw however was now really worried.

"Did you hit him!?" Shaw inquired, concerned and horrified. Root, as non-chalant as ever, shrugged "No." Not hearing a word from the other side of the wall, Shaw began to get up off the bed and get out and check on Cole.

"Fine, fine I'll check it out." Root frowned, zipping up her leather jacket and picking up a bed sheet as she did. Shaw was fumbling with her left handcuff for a minute and she was soon out of them, quickly pulling on a pair of her jeans which were in the room and a shirt.

The two of them stepped out the door to find Cole frozen to the ground, staring at the drywall which now had a bullet hole in it.

"See, I told you I didn't hit him. " Root explained, ready to trudge back to bed with Shaw.

"I wasn't expecting that." Cole sputtered, clearly shaken up at the event of him being shot at so casually.

"Next time - we're keeping the guns farther away than the bedside table." Shaw stated firmly, and Root scowled at that. Cole could not believe what he was hearing.

"YOU GUYS HAVE TO MAKE UP A RULE FOR THAT?!" He exclaimed, still rooted to the same spot.

"Spoilsport." Root groaned, walking up to Cole and the look of terror in his face only grew deeper.

"Well now that you've ruined my morning, you might as well get us some breakfast." She ordered Cole, treating him exactly like an errand boy, not feeling any emotion for the poor guy she had just scared.

"Oh and pick me up some Pantene. Silky Smooth." Root finished, giving Cole two slight slaps to the face and then walked back to the bedroom.

Shaw however was so amazed at how easily Root had handled Cole, and gave him a broad smile.

"My God you're completely pussy whipped." Cole groaned, stomping out the front door and slamming the door behind him.

 

* * *

 

When Cole did get back, Shaw was lazing on the front room couch, eyeing the bullet hole in the wall when Cole tossed her a packed bag of food.

"You're fixing the hole in the wall Shaw." Cole grunted, trying to regain some of his lost dignity as he booted up his computer, which was as always set up in the front room. Shaw shrugged at that and started digging into the food, Root was still taking a shower and she had just handed her the newly bought bottles of shampoo and conditioner.

Half an hour later, Shaw had nearly eaten all of Root's share of the food too, and Cole was still silently checking up anything he had missed in all the time he was out the previous night.

"Your girlfriend does take a long time in the shower." Cole wryly commented, still typing away at the computer.

"She has nice hair." Shaw shrugged in reply, her mind going over the amazing night she had just had. Cole slowly turned to see her staring at the ceiling with a passive expression, with one eyebrow raised.

"She's not my girlfriend." Shaw hurriedly replied, realizing she forgotten to make her standard retort. In that moment, Cole knew he was pretty much screwed hereafter.

 

* * *

 

Root did finish her shower ten minutes later, and stepped out into the front room in a fresh bath robe. Cole was too terrified to even look up at her.

"I'm sorry about the whole shooting thing." Root offered sarcastically throwing herself onto the couch next to Shaw. Cole was too bothered that he replied with a high pitch mumble, which made Shaw laugh.

"I swear I could marry you right now just for the effect you've got on Cole." she grinned, letting Root link her hand with hers. Cole faked being sick at seeing Root and Shaw so happy and went back to typing at the computer, while the two of them began to casually make out on the couch. For the first time in their lives, it felt like they were experiencing domestic bliss and it was such a happy moment for the both of them.

"Uh oh. " Cole commented, his typing speeding up and the two of them quit making out again for the second time that day because of Cole.

"What is it?" Shaw snapped, clearly annoyed.

"The next number." Cole muttered, not taking his eyes off the computer screen.

"Who is it? " Shaw asked lazily from the couch, too comfy to move with Root in her arms.

"Your girlfriend." Cole replied, and at that Shaw sprung up.

"What?!"

Root and Shaw were staring at the various files Cole was pulling up and sure enough - there was Root's picture on a documented stamped across with the words "CONFIDENTIAL".

Shaw didn't say a word, Root however was unfazed.

"Wow, they've got to get a better picture of me."

Cole turned around, not expecting that Root would have been standing behind him.

"Hey! These are confidential files!" he exclaimed. Root however looked back at him as if he were a naive little puppy dog.

Shaw however was dumbstruck and knew she was in trouble. All numbers handed to her had to be dealt with in 72 hours and having Root stare down Cole with her annoyingly sweet pout wasn't helping.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please Feedback.


	7. Wildest Moments

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Sorry for taking a while to continue this, work was becoming a bit burdensome.

Shaw and Cole were looking at each other silently with a perplexed expression, quite unsure of what to do. Root had grown bored of the silence and flopped back on the couch, clearly not seeing the seriousness of the situation. She sighed out loud in a bid to draw some attention but Shaw and Cole were quite consumed in their dilemma.

"Wow." Root huffed out loud, clearly disinterested.

"Do you know what this means?!" Shaw snapped, unable to check herself. "I'm supposed to get rid of you in 72 hours."

"And I thought that was just Cole's dating profile, setting me up with him." Root pouted adorably, clearly not affected by the prospect of Shaw killing her.

"What do we do?" Shaw muttered, turning to Cole, seeing that Root was not taking this seriously.

"It's not like we can send back the number Shaw, that's not how this works!" Cole began, feeling the burden of being sensible resting on his shoulders, knowing Shaw and seeing Root as casual as ever.

"There is the betrothal clause, however." Cole suddenly remembered, and turned to Shaw eagerly.

"What!?" Root sat up at that, not believing her ears.

"It's to avoid a sort of Mr. and Mrs. Smith type scenario. The agency can't afford to have 2 trained agents on their ass so anyone given the order to kill a close relative can always opt out of it."

"There's an actual clause for this in the ISA?" Root asked out loud, still in disbelief. "Wouldn't it be easier for the agency to just send the number to a totally different agent in the first place?"

Cole shrugged at that, he wasn't quite sure about the workings of the Machine giving the numbers, but he was sure enough the ISA could be illogical sometimes.

"So, all you guys have got to do is get married." Cole reasoned out, and Root squealed at joy in that, but Shaw was quick to yell out her vehement rejection of that.

"No one's getting married. That's just a trick for the ISA to get to agents who've gone too soft." Shaw scowled, glaring at Cole for telling Root all that. Trust the guy to be totally unprofessional.

"But that's the only plausible solution!" Cole argued, and Shaw fought back.

"Root's right, they'll just send another agent after her, and that wouldn't do." Shaw reasoned, and Root was touched at that. Root wasn't sure what was touching about Shaw thinking it was best that she got her number, but she was sure there was something sweetly romantic about that and the cosmic connections of the universe.

Cole and Shaw fell back into their silence, while Root after a minute of consideration, decided to get up to leave.

"Where do you think you're going!" Cole jerked up in surprise.

"Places to be, people to kill." Root grinned, walking into the bedroom to pick up her guns from the side table. Cole couldn't believe Shaw was just standing there, letting this happen.

"Shaw- do something!!"

"We can either let her walk out of here, or she can walk out here after killing us both, I think the former is the better option." Shaw mumbled, knowing that there was little she could do to stop Root.

"Bye sweetie!" Root smiled, giving Shaw's cheek a quick kiss before walking out the front door. Cole looked as if his lower jaw was going to hit the floor.

"We've got to think of better options of dealing with this." Shaw grunted, trying to shake off all the sweet feelings Root's kiss had given her.

Cole knew he had to clear up something before thinking about further strategies.

"You don't - _want_ to kill her - right?" In spite of the impromptu shot at him earlier that morning, Cole could see that the hacker assassin was good for Shaw.

"I don't want to not do my job." Shaw explained, hating both alternatives that were before her.

"Shaw."

"Fine, I don't want to kill her." Shaw surrendered, rolling her eyes and throwing herself on the couch.

Cole took a quick breath at that, and groaned himself.

"I didn't think blowing up the IMF would put her on the Machine's radar." Cole sighed, and Shaw sat up at that.

"Cole."

"Yeah."

"We don't get the numbers for the crimes that have been committed - we prevent - " Shaw voiced out loud and Cole sprung up at that.

"Mother of  God, what is she going to do now." Cole immediately began typing wildly at the computer.

"Don't worry." Shaw grinned, tossing Cole her phone.

"You planted a bug on her?"

"You always track the people you care about." she grinned, picking up her guns and making sure she had enough rounds.

"So, you do care about her??"  Cole enquired, he really couldn't let that one slide.

Shaw just pointed her gun and him and before slamming the door behind her, yelled a loud and tired "Shut up."

Cole nodded to himself and set himself to tracking Root down.

"She cares."

 

* * *

 

"You know, this was the last place I expected to find her." Shaw scowled, whispering into her mouthpiece. The church was long and filled with people - and pastor's voice filled the church and echoed through the building. Shaw was ready to shoot the old lady next to her if she didn't stop staring at her in reprehension. She still hadn't spotted Root, the church was too crowded to spot anyone.

"Not a bad time to pray for forgiveness Shaw." Cole chuckled, working through all the files he could find.

"Who could she possibly be after here, Mother Teresa?" Shaw mumbled, giving the old lady next to her a fierce scowl.

"Knowing Root, it could be anyone, but since we got her number, I'm gonna guess the Archbishop." Cole reasoned out, finding out that the Archbishop was visiting the church for sermons this week.

The sermon got over and the pastor wobbled back to the altar, while the choir got up to sing the next hymn. Shaw couldn't believe her eyes as she saw Root standing up in the front row of the choir, dressed up in a choir robe and holding up a hymn book prayerfully.

"What the-?"

"Well, Samantha is from Texas after all. Maybe she just came to pray?"

Shaw was still staring at Root and Root did notice Shaw sitting in the pews, obviously different from the other old ladies gathered in the church. Root, discretely tried to pull out her gun from under the robe, and Shaw noted that.

"If anyone needs to pray now, it's the Archbishop." Shaw grunted, quickly realizing Root wasn't going to wait for the hymn to be over to shoot the guy. Shaw knew she had to act fast.

"Time to meet God ladies." Shaw said as she got up and pulled out her gun. The old ladies around her immediately began to scream, and Shaw fired a shot into the air, just to get them out of the building quickly.

Shaw saw Root pouting at her from the altar, but Shaw knew she had to stop Root somehow. Root however, deciding to act fast as well, pulled out her gun and fired at the Archbishop, who was now ducking behind the altar. Shaw was now tearing through the crowd of old ladies running towards the front door, and was trying to get Root to stop shooting at the Archbishop. Seeing that Root wasn't going to stop her attack, Shaw aimed and fired at Root's right arm.

Finally getting to the altar, Shaw saw Root was bleeding on her side, but still standing and refusing to stand down.

"Root, I can't let you do this." Shaw reasoned out, her gun still aimed at Root. Root was relentless.

"No."

"Root, come on. You can let one assignment slide."

"So can you." Root argued back, a savage look in her eyes, her white robe soaked with her blood on the side from where Shaw had shot her.

"Why would you want to kill the Archbishop?"

"Let's say he's a child molester, and one of my clients wants him dead, for all the scars." Root spat out, her gun still aimed at the Archbishop who was shaking behind the altar.

"She's right Shaw." Cole agreed, as he was checking up files on the guy. Shaw knew she had to make a decision, and normally it was easy for her. Following orders was always the easiest thing for her, and for Shaw to chose between orders and the obvious good was hard.

Knowing that Root wouldn't stop soon, Shaw aimed her gun and shot.    

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please. Feedback!


	8. Kiss With A Fist

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for everything! :D  
> Gym Class Heroes - Cupid's Chokehold  
> Dion - Dream Lover  
> Passion Pit - Take a Walk  
> Dorothy - Wicked Ones  
> Passion Pit - Where Do I come from  
> Two Door Cinema Club - Eat that up, it's Good For you.  
> Jessie Ware - Wildest Moments.  
> Florence + The Machine - Kiss with a Fist

_Time jump of a few weeks._

 

Shaw was standing in the street, clutching her hot cup of coffee and taking a sip once in a while, observing Cole. After the previous assignment of dealing with Root, he had been given the opportunity to become a field agent with training from her. The closing of Root's number had been heralded by the entire ISA as one of the quickest cases to be closed.

_2 hours, 17 minutes._

Thinking about Root always made Shaw mentally groan, but it wasn't something she minded too much. That day had ended surprisingly well for everyone, and Shaw really couldn't complain about that.

It was a cold day and Shaw was clad in her usual black beanie, black jeans and black coat, enjoying the warmth from the coffee. As she was noting Cole carefully plant a bug on a table in a restaurant, Shaw heard a familiar voice.

"Hey sweetie, you busy?"

Shaw immediately frowned at that. She had probably told the woman a million times to lay low and not contact her for a few weeks, but when did Root listen to reason, ever.

"I bring food." Root acquiesced, holding up a brown bag, and Shaw loosened up a little. Mentally she had decided that if Root's number did turn up with the ISA again, she was definitely _not_ going to bother herself with it.

"What are you doing here?" Shaw asked with her usual monotone, grabbing the bag from Root and digging into it immediately. The joy on Root's face seeing her peace offering readily accepted was visibly adorable.

"Can't a couple of gals catch up to say hi?"

Shaw didn't even care to regard that with a reply, already taking a large bite of her favourite sandwich. Root felt so pleased with herself, as a doting wife would.

"Looks like Cole's doing fine with the number" Root commented, shoving her hands into her pockets. It all clicked in Shaw's head instantly and she rolled her eyes dramatically.

"You've got to 'deal with' another one of our numbers again!?"

"Just extract a little bit of crucial information before getting rid of him." Root shrugged, as cool as ever. Shaw just grunted and took another bit of her sandwich.

"I'm sure Cole will be happy to save me the trouble." Root grinned and before Shaw could stop her, Root was already walking away to meet Cole who was coming towards them.

Shaw finished her sandwich with a scowl, knowing that Cole, as usual was not going to let this slide.

Cole, after a quick chat with Root came to Shaw while Root sauntered on towards the restaurant to get to the number.

"I wonder who that was." Cole began, cheeky look in his face.

"Cole."

"I swear, I thought we killed her Shaw." Cole went on, enjoying the teasing to the core.

"We killed Samantha Groves." Shaw muttered, hating that Root just had to turn up out of nowhere and spoil her morning.

 

* * *

 

After Shaw shot the Archbishop dead in the church, Root was so unbelievably happy. She dropped her gun, ran to Shaw and jumped on to her, wrapping her legs around Shaw's waist. Shaw staggered back a few steps, clutching Root as tight as she could. Root didn't even mind the pain from where Shaw had shot her, she was ecstatic, her eyes shining and her face glowing.

"Stop getting yourself into these situations." Shaw sighed, wrapping her arms around Roots neck, her hand still holding her handgun and loving the way Root started to pout.

"Why?" Root asked in a small voice.

"I don't want one of the other agents to get your number."

Root smiled widely at that,

"Darling, I think it's pretty much decided that you're always gonna get my number." Root drawled out, and then leaned in to kiss Shaw as hard as she could. They could have closed the case in 2 hours if the two have them could have just stopped making out in the church.

By the time Root and Shaw made it back to the safe house, Cole was already working hard on a plan.

"The footage shows you, Shaw, firing a shot at Root, and after that, it gets pretty hard to point out who kills the Archbishop." Cole explained, pointing out various bits of the footage.

"What are you trying to say Cole." Shaw muttered, busy bandaging Root's side carefully. Root was totally enjoying playing the patient, and was heartily wishing Cole wasn't even there.

"I think we can pull this off. "

"What?"

"Make the footage look like you killed Root but not before she killed the Archbishop. Root's going to need a new identity, but I'm sure she can manage that." Cole explained, busy typing away. Root heard that and had already decided what her next identity was going to be.

"So, Case closed?" Shaw inquired, genuinely surprised that everything had ended so easily. Cole nodded in agreement.

 

* * *

 

"So, if we killed Samantha Groves - I wonder who that was." Cole asked out loud, grinning. Part of the deal with helping Shaw get rid of the footage of the two of them making out was that Cole could tease Shaw about this whenever he wanted, and he was enjoying it.

"That is Mrs. Sameen Shaw." Shaw scowled, kicking herself for not being around when Root was creating her new fake identity. Anything would have been better than this.

"Wow Sameen. You didn't even want to be someone's girlfriend, and now you're someone's wife." Cole chuckled as Shaw was trying to make out what Root was doing to the number. She was decidedly sick of Cole and his teasing, and there was no stopping him.

"You know the Facebook page is really adorable." Cole went on, "and the wedding picture - so cute!"

Shaw grinned seeing Root casually pull out her hand gun and kill the number right on the spot. Cole noticing that, was immediately annoyed. He was supposed to kill the number.

"Hey! You KNEW she was going to do that?!" he snapped, and Shaw grinned at him.

"Well, you know my wife." she smiled, walking away and leaving Cole foaming at the mouth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unless you guys can give me ideas on how to continue this.  
> The End.


End file.
